April 11, 2006 - NEW BOSTON - Sulphur Springs boys golf
coach Doug Evans was standing on firm ground Monday afternoon, but he
felt a little like he was on a roller coaster.

The Wildcats started the day with a tenuous four-stroke lead over North
Lamar for the second and final regional-qualifying spot in the District
12-4A tournament. As Evans stood on the 18th green at Oak Grove Golf
Course watching his players come down the final fairway, he alternated
between relief and anxiety.

"I didn't know how everybody was playing coming down to the finish," Evans
said. "Word starts filtering up to the 18th green that so-and-so is this
many over and their guys are shooting this, so it appeared like it was
pretty close."

The Cats' No. 3 player, freshman Joe Ross, hit a booming drive to within
30 yards of the 18th green to set up a possible birdie, but his chip
shot went into the water. Senior Seth Northcutt then rolled in a 20-foot
birdie putt in the next group.

Then, in the final group, junior Dustin Gideon's chip hit the concrete
retaining wall around the pond surrounding the green and bounced high
into the air - and onto the fringe of the green.

At that point, Evans could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

With Gideon shooting a final round 76, Ross carding a 79, Northcutt
coming in an 82, and Chase Helm finishing with an 83, the Wildcats not
only held off North Lamar but put a little more distance between them
and third place. Sulphur Springs finished the round with a 320 - seven
strokes better than North Lamar - to secure a regional berth.

There wasn't as much drama on the girls' side. North Lamar and Sulphur
Springs had both already virtually wrapped up the regional berths because
they entered the third and final round 200 strokes ahead of third place
Paris.

The only suspense was whether the Lady Cats could make up the 17 strokes
they trailed North Lamar and if junior Whitney McDaniel could edge out
North Lamar's Allison Felty for medalist honors. The answers were No
and Yes.

Led by a final round 81 by McDaniel, the Lady Cats surged to within
three strokes of North Lamar for the district title, but the Pantherettes
held on. McDaniel, though, did claim medalist honors with a three-round
total of 260 which included back-to-back 81s on the final two rounds.

SSHS junior Kylie Littlefield was third medalist with a 278, and freshman
Britney Cheatham tied for fourth with a 284. Both Littlefield and Cheatham
shot final round 92s.

BOYS

Texas High shot its worst round of the three-day tournament with a 307,
but it was still the best score of the day. The Tigers finished with
a 904 total, and had all five of its golfers in the top 10 including
Zack Fischer, who won the medalist title for the second straight year,
with a 2-under 214.

That left the second regional qualifying spot to either Sulphur Springs,
who came in at 647, or North Lamar, who was at 651 entering the final
day.

But, the Wildcats played well on the wooded course with quite a few
bunkers. Gideon was at even par at the turn and finished 4-over; Ross
was at 2-over after nine and finished 7-over including an eagle on the
par-5 13th hole; and Northcutt birdied the final hole to come in at 10-over.

Helm was solid at 11-over and Sam Dolan came in at 89 to round out the
varsity.

Gideon finished in fifth in the medalist standings - which is First
Team All-District - and Northcutt earned Second Team by finishing 10th.
Ross was 11th individually.

Evans said he knew when it came down to Gideon's group that the Wildcats
were in good shape to advance to regional.

"I knew Dustin Gideon was playing well, and I knew that he was ahead
of his man. So, it really kind of became match play," Evans said.

The Wildcats finished with a 967 total, while North Lamar was 978.

"I'm proud of them and really excited they're going to get to go to
regional. It's been a few years since we've been - I think maybe six
years - so this is something that these guys deserve. They've worked
hard for it, and they're a great bunch of guys," he added.

While the Cats knew they had to stay ahead of North Lamar, Evans said
they did a good job of staying focused on their game.

"Our whole mindset was to take care of our business because we can't
do anything with North Lamar - their game is out of our control," he
explained. "The only thing we can control is our own shots. That's more
or less what our focus was.

They were pretty confident, though. They just talked about us being
ahead. They felt that North Lamar would have more pressure."

The SSHS No. 2 team finished ninth in the 10-team standings with an
1,124 total. Robby Moore shot the squad's best score with an 88, finishing
with a 259 total. Rob Russell and Hesston Taylor both shot 94, Lane McClung
came in at 101 and Price Orwosky carded a 111.

Three SSHS medalists also competed. Lance Knotts carded a 98, Jacob
Cooper shot a 113, and John Holland totaled 115.

Girls

McDaniel matched her best round of the season, shooting an 81, to beat
North Lamar's Felty by four strokes. McDaniel had trailed by one stroke
going into the final round.

That finish helped the Lady Cats shoot their best round of the season,
a 370. They finished at 1,156, just three strokes back of North Lamar.

"I thought we performed really well," said SSHS head coach Rahn Smith. "The
pressure really wasn't on us - we were just going to go out, play the
best we possibly could and see what happens.

"There wasn't much of a chance for us to catch them if they played well.
I thought we performed well, though, and shot the lowest total we had
all year. That, going into regional, is pretty encouraging."

Littlefield finished with a 278 total, while Cheatham was at 284. Jessica
Anderson shot a 105 on Monday to total 348 for the tourney, and Cherish
Bolton's 117 final-round tally gave her a 346 total.

But, the focus individually was on McDaniel and Felty, who were playing
together in the final group.

"One of the goals that Whitney had at the first of the year was to be
district champion, and along with that, it would help us as far as a
team, and it did," Smith said. "I was real proud of her, the way she
works especially in the last few weeks fine-tuning things to be able
to do that. She performed well and made some real pressure putts at the
end to put her in position to win."

The Class 4A, Region II tournament is scheduled for April 24-25 at Bridlewood
Golf Course in Flower Mound.

The SSHS No. 2 squad finished fifth in the standings with a 1,513 total,
including 492 on the final day. Allison Hefner led the team with a 111
and a 349 total. Kaitlyn Potts, Kourtney Hughes and Sarah Yosten shot
a 126, 127 and 128, respectively, and Dunae Bain carded a 140.

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